Book after Book

By Portia De Rossi Published by Simon & Schuster Sometimes I choose what to read for reasons that go beyond the content of the book. In fact, when I decided that I wanted to read Portia De Rossi’s Unbearable Lightness , I didn’t even know what it was about. I had watched no interviews and read no reviews. I figured that whatever one half of the world’s most famous lesbian couple had to say, I wanted to know! Despite not knowing anything about the book, I did have preconceptions. I was definitely not expecting the amazing book that this turned out to be. In Unbearable Lightness , whose subtitle is A story of loss and gain , Portia De Rossi gives an acutely honest account of her struggle with eating disorders. Brought on by factors such as the need to feel above average when she was only in her teens and the perceived necessity to hide her sexual orientation when she was beginning her acting career, her difficult relationship with food and the hatred towards her body and herself are ...

In her autobiographical first novel, Wild Swans , Jung Chang narrates the story of three amazing women: her grandmother, her mother and herself. A fascinating account of Chinese history that spans from 1909, when the country was ruled by warlords, to the 1990s and the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution. Isabel’s Daughter , written by Judith Hendricks, focuses on Avery James and on her journey from a founding home in Colorado to the art élite of Santa Fe, New Mexico. It’s there that, piece after piece, she puts together the puzzle of the mother she never knew. Two books, five strong women – it doesn’t matter whether they are real or fictional. And again: two book and two authors who, with their skilful words, are able to bring times and places to life.